DCU Karate kick it up a notch

Hugh Farrell

DCU Karate walked away from the recent Inter-Collegiate Cup coming second overall with 15 individual and team medals.

The cup, which was held in UCD on December 1st, saw the team gain two gold medals, seven silver and six bronze.

Órla McNabola and Misha Maxwell were the gold winners in the senior ladies’ kata and junior men’s kumite respectively.

McNabola is also the club captain and said “I’m immensely proud of our team and our overall performance this weekend.

“Every team member, from white to black belt battled it out with a commendable energy and enthusiasm, and played a key role in reaching our success on the day.

“It is no lie that our strong team spirit shone through the roof in UCD on Saturday, the roars of coaching and support could probably have been heard from space.”

She also spoke on the club’s next steps. “The next few weeks will involve a lot of intense preparation for the All-Ireland Karate Intervarsity Championships. We have our sights firmly set on bringing the S.M.C. Perpetual Cup home to DCU once again.”

McNabola also mentioned that Ted Jenkins received an unfortunate facial injury in his first bout that prevented him from competing in the rest of the tournament.

Jenkins received the kick to his face in his first round of his kumite competition and said “it hurt but I wasn’t concussed thankfully. I got super lucky, it wasn’t broken that we could tell and it’s healing like it wasn’t.”

He also noted that the medics on site were fantastic as well as saying that “DCU put out a really strong team for the day, we’ve come on so well together over the last couple months.”

DCU Karate chairperson Claire Flynn was also happy with the performance saying, “I’m immensely proud of all the members of the club that participated in the competition on Saturday.

“It was a great day for the club and it was fantastic to see the support we all had for each other on and off the mat.”

DCU Karate train on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The All-Ireland Karate Intervarsity Championships will also be held in DCU on 6th April.